Network based application management

• US 10,110,665 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2016
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Mair, Geoffrey Ross, Geddes, Simon David, Toube, Larry Vaughan
• Primary Examiner(s): Madamba, Glenford
• Application Number:
  US15/211,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20160330273A1
• Time in Patent Office: 830 Days
• Field of Search: 709223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

An environment for facilitating the management of content for users associated with specific partner networks is provided. Users may be granted access to such specific partner networks in accordance with each user'"'"'s affiliation with one or more organizations. In accordance with the above, a content management system facilitates the content/information exchange by accepting software applications from content providers. Additionally, the content management system accepts software application specifications or manifests from partner network administrators. Accordingly, the content management system can audit and recommend actions to users regarding applicable software application based one user organizational associations. Still further, the content management system can facilitate requests from affiliated users for specific types of content that can be forwarded to content providers and later made available to affiliated users.

Claims

1. A method for managing mobile devices comprising:

obtaining an information portal request, the information portal request corresponding to a computing device associated with an organization corresponding to a partner network component configured to provide access to a plurality of software applications for the computing device;

obtaining at least one affiliation associated with the information portal request, the at least one affiliation being between the computing device and the organization based on a hierarchical structure associated with the organization, the at least one affiliation being independent of a relationship between the computing device and a provider of the plurality of software applications;

obtaining program information corresponding to the at least one affiliation;

processing the program information to provide an indication of the a plurality of software applications available to the computing device via the at least one partner network component;

providing the program information to the computing device responsive to the information portal request;

identifying a selected software application by selecting from the plurality of software applications based on the program information;

processing the selected software application to at least one content provider associated with the at least one partner network component; and

performing one of;

a download of the selected software application to the computing device,

a removal of the selected software application from the computing device, or

a modification of the selected software application previously installed on the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining one or more affiliations associated with at least one information portal request includes identifying a domain associated with an electronic mail address.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining affiliation information based on comparing the identified domain with domains associated with one or more organizations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining program information corresponding to the one or more affiliations includes initiating an audit of one or more computing devices associated with the information portal request, the audit attempting to identify the at least one software application being maintained on the one or more computing devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining program information corresponding to the one or more affiliations includes filtering program information based on organizational affiliation information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein one or more of the plurality of software applications have versions that are mutually exclusive based on organizational affiliation information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the program information to provide an indication of available program information includes determining pricing information associated with the plurality of software applications.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising obtaining configuration information associated with the computing device and determining pricing information based on the configuration information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the program information to provide an indication of the program information includes causing a generation of a user interface on the computing device.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising generating a notification corresponding to the selection of the software application to be transmitted to the computing device.

11. A method for managing mobile devices comprising:

obtaining an information portal request, the information portal request corresponding to a computing device associated with an organization corresponding to a partner network component configured to provide access to a plurality of software applications for the computing device;

obtaining at least one affiliation associated with the information portal request, the at least one affiliation being between the computing device and the organization based on a hierarchical structure, the at least one affiliation being independent of a relationship between the computing device and a provider of the at least one software application;

obtaining program information corresponding to the at least one affiliation;

processing the program information to provide an indication of the plurality of software applications that are available to the computing device via the at least one partner network component;

providing the program information to the computing device responsive to the information portal request;

identifying a selected software application from the plurality of software applications based on the program information; and

performing one of;

a download of the selected software application to the computing device,

a removal of the selected software application from the computing device, or

a modification of the selected software application previously installed on the computing device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining at least one affiliation associated with the information portal request includes identifying a domain associated with an electronic mail address.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining program information corresponding to the at least one affiliation includes initiating an audit of one or more computing devices associated with the information portal request, the audit attempting to identify the plurality of software applications being maintained on the one or more computing devices.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein obtaining program information corresponding to the at least one affiliation includes filtering program information based on organizational affiliation information.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein processing the program information to provide an indication of the program information includes determining pricing information associated with the plurality of software applications.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising obtaining configuration information associated with the computing device and determining pricing information based on the configuration information.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein processing the program information to provide an indication of the program information available to the computing device includes causing a generation of a user interface on the computing device.

18. A system for managing mobile devices comprising:

a data store, implemented on a first computing system having a processor and a memory, the data store maintain program information defined according to affiliation relationships; and

a content management system, implemented on a second computing system, the content management system operable to;

obtain an information portal request, the information portal request corresponding to a computing device associated with an organization corresponding to a partner network component configured to provide to a plurality of software applications for the computing device,

obtain at least one affiliation associated with the information portal request, the at least one affiliation being between the computing device and the organization based on a hierarchical structure associated with the organization, the at least one affiliation being independent of a relationship between the computing device and a provider of the at least one software application,

obtain program information corresponding to the at least one affiliation,

process the program information to provide an indication of the plurality of software applications that are available to the computing device via the at least one partner network component, and

provide the program information to the computing device responsive to the information portal request;

identify a selected software application from the plurality of software applications based on the program information; and

perform one of;

a download of the selected software application to the computing device,

a removal of the selected software application from the computing device, or

a modification of the selected software application previously installed on the computing device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the content management system is further operable to process the providing of the program information to at least one content provider, wherein financial terms of the providing of the program are based on the at least one affiliation.

20. The of claim 19, wherein the content management system is further operable initiate an audit of one or more computing devices associated with the information portal request, the audit attempting to identify the plurality of software applications already maintained on the one or more computing devices.